,
E. Hammett and
E.G. Taylor, covered on Argentine magazine
El Gráfico The
River Plate Rugby Union (RPRU, current "Argentine Rugby Union") had formed a commission to study how to bring a British team into the country. To do so they had to have the sum of
m$n 25,000 (about
£ 3,000 at that time) to pay the travel and subsistence costs of a staff of twenty-five people. With contributions from clubs, newspaper companies, stores such as Gath and Chaves, British railroads and refrigerators and personal contributions, 30,000 pesos were collected. In mid-1926 the
RFU received an invitation from the RPRU, requesting for a team of "first class players" to visit Argentina for three or four weeks. The delegation should be of 25 people including a manager and a referee. The RFU responded affirmatively after consulting the
International Board. On July 19, 1927, a team composed of twenty-three players from England, Scotland and Ireland under the direction of
James Baxter, none other than the president of the RFU, and a first-class referee, arrived in Buenos Aires and settled in the headquarters of
Hurlingham Club for a fixture of nine games. Fulfilling the request of the RPRU, this British combined was considerably stronger than the one that had been assembled in
1910. No less than fifteen of the twenty-three players were internationals or future internationals. His captain,
David MacMyn, was a leading Scottish forward who had been part of the team that won its first
Grand Slam in
1925 and shared the title of the
Five Nations with
Ireland in
1926. During the long sea voyage to Argentina, MacMyn made good use of onboard time for his men to train and make a tactical plan for the tour. , Rosario, on 3 August In their first games, the Lions played an Anglo-Argentine combined and the Argentine champion
San Isidro, which had won eight consecutive
domestic championships to date. The Lions won those games with no goals conceded. The following game was the first test v.
Argentina, played on 31 July at
Gimnasia y Esgrima stadium. It was the first time Argentina wore the horizontal light blue and white jersey (after wearing blue and white jerseys alternatively since its first match in 1910) after a proposal by
Gimnasia y Esgrima executive Abelardo Gutiérrez. The match was attended by a record 12,000 spectators. After the match, MacMyn wrote: "The crowd was delighted. They were impressed by the fact that we played in silence, listening only to the captain's voice. Argentines have all the physical qualities required for rugby. They are big, strong and fast. They are tremendously enthusiastic –sometimes, excessively". ==Touring team==